Yesterday we checked out another church. It was very nice. I had a minor quibble - when the little kids went up to sing some songs from VBS, there was applause afterwards. I am quite sure I am in the minority who thinks applause is out of place in church. The singers are there to sing to the glory of God, not for the entertainment of the congregation. Of course only a grinchy person would say not to applause preschoolers singing their little hearts out! But I just don't think applause fits in at church.
I have been in churches where the choir was applauded. Now that seemed really inappropriate to me. Is it a worship service or a concert?
So, am I off the wall to be annoyed by this? (I am easily annoyed, I know. And it won't weigh in any decisions about which church to settle down at.) C'mon, leave a comment, be harsh if you want to. Opinions don't hurt my feelings.
3 comments:
I, too, have been in churches where there was applause after the choir sang. At first I was all for it; they sang beautifully and I felt we should tell them. Now, I don't like to clap as they are not "performing for us but for the Lord and thankfully the church we now attend agrees with me. (: I will say that if children sing in church I'm all for applauding especially if they are little. On the flip side, we need to teach our children that they too are performing for the Lord and not for the congregation.
I can't honestly say I have a reeal opinion on this. I always feel bad not clapping because even though the choir is singing 'unto the Lord' I like to tell people they did a good job. But then again, it does feel kind of out of place in church.
The fads issue though. That's hard to sum up because I have a lot of opinion about that. Maybe I'll do a post later. Suffice to say we have a kind of unstated family rule that the more popular something is the less inclined we are to take part. My dad told me once that I am a "reverse snob".
I think it all depends on the church. Our church applauds, but I feel as if it is not because we are applauding the performers, but the God the performers were celebrating. The more heartfelt the performance, the louder the applause and "Amens!" :-)
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